In-vehicle apparatus for early determination of occupant injury

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, systems, and methods are provided for determining injuries to occupants (e.g., drivers, passengers, etc.) of a vehicle after an accident. A telematics system may be configured to receive telematics data from one or more vehicles involved in an accident. Using the received telematics data, a computing device of the telematics system may determine whether injuries were sustained by passengers of the one or more vehicles. In response to the determination, the computing device may perform one or more pre-first notice of loss assessments.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/018,373, filed on Jun. 26, 2018, and entitled“In-Vehicle Apparatus for Early Determination of Occupant Injury,” whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/351,945, filedon Nov. 15, 2016, now U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/032,360, issued on Jul.24, 2018, and entitled “In-Vehicle Apparatus for Early Determination ofOccupant Injury,” each of which is incorporated, herein, by reference inits entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects described herein generally relate to systems and methods fordetermining injuries to passengers of a vehicle after an accident (e.g.,a vehicular incident whether accidental or intentional). In particular,various aspects of the disclosure relate to the usage of vehicletelematics data in determining injuries to passengers of a vehicle afteran accident.

BACKGROUND

Vehicle accidents can result in injuries to drivers and passengers.However, knowledge of systems, methods, and computing devices configuredto analyze accident data to determine the specificities of the injuriesto the driver and passengers are insufficient.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of theclaims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to systems, methods, and computingdevices configured to receive telematics data from one or more vehiclesinvolved in an accident. Using the received telematics data, a computingdevice may determine injuries likely to have been sustained bypassengers of the one or more vehicles. In response to determining theinjuries likely to have been sustained, the computing device may providesuch information to one or more of the passengers via a mobile deviceassociated with each of the one or more passengers. Additionally, thecomputing device may provide information corresponding to a medicalprofessional specializing in treatment of the injuries sustained by theone or more passengers in the geographical proximity of the location ofthe accident.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of aspects described herein and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an injury determination system according to one ormore aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart for an injury determination method accordingto one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative operating environment in which variousaspects of the present disclosure may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in whichaspects described herein may be practiced. It is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and structural and functionalmodifications may be made without departing from the scope of thedescribed aspects and embodiments. Aspects described herein are capableof other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out invarious ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology andterminology used herein are for the purpose of description and shouldnot be regarded as limiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used hereinare to be given their broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of“including” and “comprising” and variations thereof is meant toencompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well asadditional items and equivalents thereof. The use of the terms“mounted,” “connected,” “coupled,” “positioned,” “engaged” and similarterms, is meant to include both direct and indirect mounting,connecting, coupling, positioning and engaging.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating various example components of an injurydetermination system 100 according to one or more aspects of thedisclosure. Injury determination system 100 may include a vehicle 110, amobile computing device 120, a network 130, and a telematics system 140.Each component shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented in hardware, software,or a combination of the two. Additionally, each component of the injurydetermination system 100 may include a computing device (or system)having some or all of the structural components described below withrespect to computing device 301 as shown in FIG. 3.

Vehicle 110 of the injury determination system 100 may be an automobile,motorcycle, scooter, bus, van, truck, semi-truck, train, boat,recreational vehicle, or other vehicle. The vehicle 110 may further bean autonomous vehicle, semi-autonomous vehicle, or non-autonomousvehicle. In some instances, the injury determination system 100 mayinclude a plurality of vehicles each of which functioning similar tovehicle 110. The vehicle 110 may include vehicle operation sensors 111capable of detecting, recording, and/or transmitting various vehicleperformance and/or operational data and environmental conditions data.For example, sensors 111 may detect, store, and/or transmit datacorresponding to the vehicle's speed, rates of acceleration and/ordeceleration, braking, swerving, and the like. Sensors 111 also maydetect, store and/or transmit data received from the vehicle's internalsystems, such as an impact to the body of the vehicle, air bagdeployment, seatbelt usage, and the like.

Sensors 111 also may detect, store, and/or transmit data relating tomoving violations and the observance of traffic signals and signs by thevehicle 110. Additional sensors 111 may detect, store, and/or transmitdata relating to the maintenance of the vehicle 110, such as the enginestatus, oil level, engine coolant temperature, odometer reading, thelevel of fuel in the fuel tank, engine revolutions per minute (RPMs),and/or tire pressure. In some instances, vehicle 110 may include aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) 112 which may be used to detect thevehicle's position and/or location data associated with the vehicle.

Vehicle sensors 111 and GPS 112 may be configured to transmit data toone or more internal computing systems including telematics device 113and/or vehicle on-board computer 115. Additionally, vehicle sensors 111and GPS 112 may be configured to independently transmit theabove-mentioned data to one or more external computing systems includingmobile device 120 and/or telematics system 140. In some instances, thedata transmission to the one or more external computing systems may beperformed via telematics device 113 and/or vehicle communication system114. In such cases, the vehicle sensors 111 and GPS 112 may beconfigured to transmit data to telematics device 113 and/or vehiclecommunication system 114 which, in turn, may be configured to transmitthe data to the one or more external systems.

Telematics device 113 may be configured to receive vehicle performanceand/or operational data (e.g., telematics data) in the form of a datastream from on-board computer 115 via a data port, Bluetooth interface,or any comparable communication interface of the vehicle 110. Forexample, telematics device 113 may include an on-board diagnostic (OBD)device adapter and may be connected to an OBD port of the vehicle 110.In certain embodiments, telematics device 113 may be configured toreceive vehicle performance and/or operational data directly fromvehicle sensors 111, GPS 112, on-board computer 115, and/or mobiledevice 120 via a wired or wireless connection. Telematics device 113 mayinclude a memory to store data received from vehicle sensors 111, GPS112, on-board computer 115, and/or mobile device 120.

In some embodiments, telematics device 113 may store in memory a vehicleidentification number (VIN) of a vehicle 110 associated with aninsurance policy of an insured driver to corroborate vehicle performanceand/or operational data. The VIN associated with vehicle 110 may also bestored in memory associated with on-board computer 115. During operationof vehicle 110, the on-board computer 115 may attach the VIN of vehicle110 to the data stream comprising the vehicle performance and/oroperational data. On-board computer 115 may output the data streamcomprising the VIN and vehicle performance and/or operational data totelematics device 113. Telematics device 113 may corroborate the VINreceived in the data stream from on-board computer 115 to the VIN storedin memory. In doing so, telematics device 113 may determine whether ornot it is operating in the vehicle associated with the insurance policyof the insured driver.

The vehicle performance and/or operational data (e.g., telematics data)may be collected with appropriate permissions (e.g., from the driver,vehicle owner, etc.) and may include operational data from an industrystandard port such as a SAE-1962 connector, or an on board diagnostic(“OBD”) port or other vehicle data acquiring component. For example,operation data accessible via the OBDII port includes speed and enginethrottle position or other variable power controls of the vehicle powersource. It may also include so called “extended OBDII” or OBDIIIdatasets that are specific to each manufacturer and also available withmanufacturer permission such as odometer reading, seat belt status,activation of brakes, degree and duration of steering direction, etc.,and implementation of accident avoidance devices such as turningsignals, headlights, seatbelts, activation of automated braking systems(ABS), etc. Other information regarding the operation of the vehicle maybe collected such as, but not limited to, interior and exterior vehicletemperature, window displacement, exterior vehicle barometric pressure,exhaust pressure, vehicle emissions, turbo blower pressure, turbocharger RPM, vehicle GPS location, etc. The system may recognize or beconfigured to recognize a particular language emitted by the vehiclesystem and may configure the recording component to receive or convertdata in SAE J1850, ISO IS09141 or KWP 2000 formats. Accordingly, U.S.and/or international OBD standards may be accommodated. For instance,data may be collected from a variety of U.S. and/or international porttypes to permit use in a variety of locations. Alternatively, this stepmay be performed by a processor after the data is recorded.

Telematics device 113 may also include sensors such as, but not limited,an accelerometer, compass, gyroscope, and GPS system. Telematics device113 may include antennas to communicate with other devices wirelessly.For example, telematics device 113 may communicate with mobile device120 and/or telematics system 140 over a wide area network (WAN),cellular network, Wi-Fi network, and the like. Telematics device 113 mayalso communicate with mobile device 120 via a Bluetooth connection. Incertain embodiments, telematics device 113 may be configured toestablish a secure communication link and/or channel with mobile device120 and/or telematics system 140.

In some arrangements, telematics device 113 may be a telematicsapplication operating on mobile computing device 120 and may utilizehardware components comprised therein (e.g., memory, processors,communication hardware, etc.) to receive, store, and/or transmit vehicleperformance and/or operational data outputted by the on-board computer115. In such an arrangement, telematics device 113 may also utilizesensors included within mobile device 120.

Vehicle communication systems 114 may be implemented using wirelessprotocols such as WLAN communication protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11),Bluetooth (e.g., IEEE 802.15.1), one or more of the Communication Accessfor Land Mobiles (CALM) wireless communication protocols and airinterfaces, and the like. In certain systems, communication systems 114may include specialized hardware installed in vehicle 110 (e.g.,transceivers, antennas, etc.), while in other examples the communicationsystems 114 may be implemented using existing vehicle hardwarecomponents (e.g., radio and satellite equipment, navigation computers).In some instances, the vehicle communication systems 114 may beconfigured to transmit data provided by vehicle sensors 111, GPS 112,and telematics device 113 to one or more external computing devices overa wide area network (WAN), cellular network, Wi-Fi network, and thelike. Similarly, the communications systems 114 may be configured toreceive data from one or more external computing systems. In someinstances, vehicle communication systems 114 may be configured totransmit data to one or more external computing systems.

Vehicle control computer 115 may contain some or all of thehardware/software components as the computing device 301 depicted inFIG. 3, and may be configured to operate aspects of the driving, orother operation of vehicle 110, including but not limited to,acceleration, braking, steering, and/or route navigation. Furthermore,vehicle control computer 115 may be configured to operate one or moreinternal vehicle systems and/or components including at least a vehiclesound system, dashboard display and/or heads-up display system, interiorlighting system, climate control system, door locking systems, and thelike. Similarly, vehicle control computer 115 may be configured tooperate one or more external vehicle systems and/or components includingwindshield wipers, exterior lighting systems (e.g., headlights, taillights, running lights, turn signals, emergency lights, etc.), emissionand exhaust systems, fuel systems, suspension systems, transmissionsystems, and the like. In some instances, vehicle control computer 115may be configured to receive and analyze vehicle performance andoperational data provided by vehicle sensors 111, GPS 112, telematicsdevice 113, and mobile device 120 in order to determine that an accidenthas occurred and to participate in the injury determination proceduresdescribed in further detail below.

In certain embodiments, mobile computing device 120 may be includedwithin the vehicle 110 and may be used to independently collect vehicledriving data and/or to receive vehicle driving data from one or morevehicle systems. Mobile computing device 120 may be, for example, amobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or tablet computer ofthe driver or passenger(s) of vehicle 110. Software applicationsexecuting on mobile computing device 120 may be configured toindependently detect certain driving data. For example, mobile device120 may be equipped with one or more accelerometers and/or GPS systemswhich may be accessed by software applications executing on mobilecomputing device 120 to determine vehicle location, speed, direction,and other basic driving data. As stated above, mobile computing device120 may be configured to transmit the independently collected vehicledriving data and/or the received vehicle driving data and environmentalconditions data to one or more external computing devices (e.g.,telematics system 140). In other examples, software on mobile computingdevice 120 may be configured to receive some or all of the driving datacollected by vehicle sensors 111 and GPS 112. Mobile computing device120 may also determine that an accident has occurred and participate inthe injury determination procedures described herein.

The injury determination system 100 may include a telematics system 140including a historical data source server 150, an injury assessmentserver 160, and a medical clearinghouse server 170. The telematicssystem 140 and each of the historical data source server 150, injuryassessment server 160, and medical clearinghouse server 170 may containsome or all of the hardware/software components as the computing device301 depicted in FIG. 3.

Historical data source server 150 may comprise a historical data sourcecomputer 152 for receiving and/or processing historical data includinginsurance claims, casualty claims, accident reports, injury assessmentprofiles, vehicle operations data (e.g., telematics data) associatedwith insurance claims, casualty claims, accident reports, and the like.The historical data source server 150 may also comprise a database 154used to store the historical data collected by any of the computingdevices in injury determination system 100. In specific regards to theinjury assessment profiles, historical data source database 154 maystore an injury assessment matrix and for each injury assessmentprofile. In some instances, the injury assessment matrices for each ofthe injury assessment profiles may include telematics data associatedwith an accident and corresponding injuries sustained in the accident.The historical data source server 150 may be configured to transmit thehistorical data stored in historical data source database 154 to injuryassessment server 160, medical clearinghouse server 170, mobile device120, telematics device 113, and/or on-board computer 115 for aiding inthe injury determination procedures described herein.

Injury assessment server 160 may comprise an injury assessment computer162 for receiving, processing, and/or transmitting telematics data,responses to questions regarding an accident, and the like. The injuryassessment server 160 may also comprise an injury assessment database164 used to store the telematics data, responses to questions regardingan accident, and the like received by injury assessment computer 162. Insome instances, the injury assessment database 164 may be configured tostore data received from historical data source server 150 and medicalclearinghouse server 170. The injury assessment server 160 may beconfigured to transmit data stored in injury assessment database 164 tohistorical data source server 150, medical clearinghouse server 170,mobile device 120, telematics device 113 and/or on-board computer 115for aiding in the injury determination methods described herein.

Injury assessment computer 162 of injury assessment server 160 may beable to determine, based on the vehicle operational data (e.g.,telematics data) received from telematics device 113, on-board computer115 via vehicle communication systems 114, and/or mobile device 120,that vehicle 110 has been involved in an accident. For example, uponreceiving data indicating that vehicle 110 has rapidly decelerated from60 mph to 0 mph without also receiving breaking data, injury assessmentcomputer 162 of injury assessment server 160 may determine that vehicle110 has been in an accident. In some instances, injury assessment server160 may be configured to receive data from each of a plurality ofvehicles involved in the accident. For example, if a first vehicle and asecond vehicle are involved in an accident with each other, injuryassessment server 160 may be able to receive the telematics data at thetime of the accident from each of the first and second vehicles. In someinstances, the telematics data corresponding to the first and secondvehicles may be interconnected by injury assessment server 160 in orderto provide more comprehensive injury assessment analysis.

After receiving data indicating that vehicle 110 was involved in anaccident, injury assessment computer 162 of injury assessment server 160may be configured to conduct post-accident assistance measures for thedriver of vehicle 110 involved in the accident. As will be discussed infurther detail below, such post-accident assistance measures may includenotifying emergency response personnel that an accident has occurred.

Responsive to completing the post-accident assistance measures, injuryassessment computer 162 of injury assessment server 160 may beconfigured to perform injury determination methods in conjunction withhistorical data source server 150 and medical clearinghouse server 170in order to determine injuries likely to have been sustained by thedriver of vehicle 110 and additional passengers included therein.Aspects of the injury determination method performed by loss assessmentcomputer 162 of injury assessment server 160 may include receivingresponses to questions regarding an accident and determining injurieslikely to have been sustained by the driver and/or passengers of vehicle110 based on the telematics data and the responses to the questionsregarding the accident. The injuries sustained by the driver and/orpassengers of the vehicle may be further determined by an assessment ofthe symptoms identified/provided by the respondent to the questionsregarding the accident. In some examples, the questions may be tailoredto identify particular symptoms that evidence the occurrence (oreventual occurrence) of particular injuries.

Medical clearinghouse server 170 may comprise a medical clearinghousecomputer 172 and medical clearinghouse database 174 to facilitate thearrangement of medical assistance for a driver and/or passengers ofvehicle 110 injured after being involved in an accident. In someinstances, medical clearinghouse database 174 may store data associatedwith urgent care facilities, clinics, and hospitals such as profiles,ratings, accepted insurance providers, availability schedules, and thelike. Medical clearinghouse computer 172 may be configured to provide asortable list and/or map comprising data corresponding to urgent carefacilities, clinics, and hospitals to a driver of vehicle 110. In someinstances, medical clearinghouse computer 172 may be able to consolidatethe urgent care facility, clinic, and hospital data presented to thedriver of vehicle 110 based on vehicle location data provided by GPS112, telematics device 113, and/or mobile computing device 120.Additionally and/or alternatively, medical clearinghouse computer 172may be configured to consolidate the urgent care facility, clinic, andhospital data presented to the user based on location information (e.g.,a zip code) provided by a user and/or associated with an insurancepolicy of the user.

The medical clearinghouse computer 172 of medical clearinghouse server170 may be configured to arrange an appointment between the driverand/or passengers of vehicle 110 injured in an accident and a medicalprofessional. In arranging the appointment, medical clearinghousecomputer 172 of medical clearinghouse server 170 may be configured toprovide the information corresponding to the accident (e.g., vehicleoperational data and accident data provided by the driver of vehicle 110during the injury determination measures) to one or more urgent carefacilities, clinics, and/or hospitals in the vicinity of the user. Afterproviding the accident information to the one or more urgent carefacilities, clinics, and/or hospitals, medical clearinghouse computer172 of medical clearinghouse server 170 may be configured to coordinateinteractions between the user and the one or more urgent carefacilities, clinics, and/or hospitals to schedule an appointment. Uponarranging an appointment, medical clearinghouse computer 172 may beconfigured to provide medical updates to the driver and/or passengers ofvehicle 110 injured in the accident.

The following steps that are described in regards to FIG. 2 may beimplemented by one or more of the components of FIGS. 1 and 3 (describedin detail below) and/or other components, including other computingdevices.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart for an injury determination method accordingto one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, theinjury determination method may be included in an injury determinationapplication downloaded from telematics system 140 onto a mobilecomputing device associated with a user (e.g., driver and/or passengersof vehicle 110). The downloaded application may interface withtelematics system 140 in order to perform the injury determinationmethod described herein. Furthermore, such an application may be amulti-functional application and may also include a telematics methodenabling mobile device 120 to receive vehicle operation data fromtelematics device 113 and/or detect vehicle operation data through oneor more sensors (e.g., accelerometer, GPS, etc.) included in mobiledevice 120. Additionally and/or alternatively, the injury determinationmethod may be a web-based injury determination application performed ontelematics system 140. In such instances, mobile device 120 may access awebpage associated with telematics system 140 in order to participate inthe injury determination method described herein.

The method of FIG. 2 may commence at step 202 wherein telematics system140 may receive telematics data from a vehicle 110 associated with auser. The telematics data may be received from telematics device 113,vehicle control computer on-board computer 115 via vehicle communicationsystems 114, and/or mobile device 120. Such telematics data may includeeach item of vehicle performance and operational data described herein(e.g., velocity, rates of acceleration and/or deceleration, braking,swerving, impact to the body of the vehicle, air bag deployment, and thelike). In some instances, telematics system 140 may receive telematicsdata from a plurality of vehicles.

The telematics data provided to telematics system 140 may be providedcontinuously and in real-time. In one instance, the telematics data maybe provided in standardized time intervals (e.g. every 10 seconds, 30seconds, 1 minute, etc.). In such instances, the telematics dataprovided may correspond to the particular time interval at which thetelematics data is sent. In another instance, the telematics data may beprovided in intermittent lumps corresponding to standardized timeintervals. For example, the standardized time interval may be 30 secondsand at the conclusion of each 30 second interval the telematics system140 may receive telematics data corresponding to each second within theparticular 30 second interval.

At step 204, when received, the telematics data may be analyzed by thetelematics system 140 in order to determine whether or not an accidenthas occurred. For example, telematics system 140 may receive telematicsdata indicating that vehicle 110 has decelerated from 45 mph to 0 mphwith high rotational velocity (e.g., swerving) and air bag deployment.Such data, when analyzed by telematics system 140, may indicate thatvehicle 110 has been involved in an accident. In some instances,telematics system 140 may receive telematics data corresponding at leastin part to impact data from pressure sensors on the body of the vehicle110, which may indicate that vehicle 110 has been involved in anaccident.

In some arrangements, a crash notification may be used to provide anindication that an accident has occurred. For instance, arrangementsdescribed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/685,067 entitled,“Automatic Crash Detection” filed on Apr. 4, 2015, which is incorporatedherein by reference and a copy of which has been submitted with theInformation Disclosure Statement concurrently filed with thisapplication, may be used in conjunction with aspects described in thepresent disclosure to do determine that a vehicle has been involved inan accident.

If the telematics data received at step 202 does not indicate that thevehicle 110 associated with the user has been involved in an accident,telematics system 140 may return to step 202 and continue to receivedata associated with the user's vehicle from telematics device 113,vehicle control computer on-board computer 115 via vehicle communicationsystems 114, and/or mobile device 120. Alternatively, if the telematicsdata received at step 202 indicates that the vehicle was involved in anaccident, telematics system 140 may proceed to step 206 as will bedescribed below.

In one example, after determining that the vehicle associated with theuser was involved in an accident based on the received telematics data,telematics system 140 may provide an alert to emergency personnel (e.g.,police, EMS, firefighters, etc.). The alert may include the telematicsdata received from telematics device 113, vehicle control computeron-board computer 115 via vehicle communication systems 114, and/ormobile device 120. Such telematics data may include at least thevelocity of the vehicle at the time of the accident, an indication ofseat belt usage and airbag deployment, and a GPS location associatedwith the vehicle. In some instances, the alert may include all of thetelematics data received from telematics device 113, vehicle controlcomputer on-board computer 115 via vehicle communication systems 114,and/or mobile device 120.

At step 206, telematics system 140 may activate the injury determinationapplication on the mobile device 120 associated with the user involvedin the accident. Upon activation, the injury determination applicationmay be configured to cause mobile device 120 to emit an audible tone andproduce a vibratory effect. In some instances the audible tone may be aringing, beeping, and/or buzzing tone and in other instances, theaudible tone may be a verbal tone indicating that the user was involvedin an accident and that emergency response personnel are beingdispatched. The audible tone and vibratory effect produced by mobiledevice 120 responsive to the activation of the injury determinationapplication may be indefinite. For example, the injury determinationapplication may be configured to cause mobile device 120 to produce theaudible tone and vibratory effect until mobile device 120 is unlockedand/or interacted with.

Alternatively, in instances in which the injury determinationapplication has not been previously installed on the mobile device 120,telematics system 140 may provide a text notification to the mobiledevice 120 associated with the user involved in the accident. The textnotification may include text indicating that the user was involved inan accident and that emergency response personnel are being dispatched.Additionally, the text notification may include a jumplink to anapplication download interface associated with the injury determinationapplication wherein the user may be able to download the injurydetermination application. In some instances, the text notification mayfurther include a URL for the web-based injury determination applicationperformed on telematics system 140.

In some instances, after performing step 206 and receiving userinteraction with the injury determination application and/or the injurydetermination web application, telematics system 140 may provide one ormore questions regarding the accident to the user associated with thevehicle involved in the accident through mobile device 120 via theinjury determination application and/or the injury determination webapplication. In some instances, the questions may include thegeographical location of the accident, type of accident (e.g., head-oncollision, rear-end collision, driver side collision, passenger sidecollision, etc.), whether or not the user was injured in the accidentand, if the user was injured in the accident, what body areas of theuser are experiencing pain. Additionally, the questions may furtherinclude whether or not there were any passengers in the vehicle, wherethe passengers were seated, whether or not the passengers were injuredin the accident and, if the passengers were injured in the accident,what body areas of the passengers are experiencing pain. Responsive toproviding the questions, telematics system 140 may receive responses tothe one or more questions from the user of the vehicle 110 associatedwith mobile device 120. In instances in which the user (e.g., driver) ofvehicle 110 associated with mobile device 120 fails to interact with theinjury determination application activated on mobile device 120 and/oraccess the injury determination web application, emergency responsepersonnel may be further notified that the user of vehicle 110 isunresponsive.

At step 208, telematics system 140 may determine injuries likely to havebeen sustained by the user and/or passengers. In some instances, thedetermination may be performed based off of the received telematics dataassociated with the vehicle of the user and/or the user's responses tothe one or more questions regarding the accident. Upon receiving thetelematics data and the responses to the questions about the accident,injury assessment server 160 of telematics system 140 may generate aninjury assessment profile associated with the user who submitted theinformation. The injury assessment profile may include an injuryassessment matrix comprising the data associated with the accident(e.g., telematics data and responses to the questions about theaccident).

The injury assessment matrix may be a standardized m-by-n matrix storingthe data associated with the accident in numerical form. The data may beentered by the injury assessment server 160 in the order in which thecategory corresponding to the data is received (e.g., telematics datafirst, responses to the questions regarding the accident second, etc.).The order in which the data categories are received may furthercorrespond to the row or column of the injury assessment matrix intowhich the data is entered and stored. In other words, the first categoryof data received (e.g., telematics data) may occupy the first row orfirst column of the loss assessment matrix. From there, injuryassessment server 160 may enter each individual data item within thefirst category along the first row or the first column in sequentialmatrix elements comprised within the first row or the first column. Forexample, in regards to the received vehicle operational data (e.g., thefirst category), the first element within the first row or first columnmay be vehicle velocity at the time of the accident, the second elementwithin the first row or first column may be vehicle acceleration at thetime of the accident, the third element within the first row or firstcolumn may be the degree of brake activation during the time of theaccident, and so on until each of the received data elements within thefirst category are entered into the first row or first column. Afterentering each of the received data elements associated with the firstcategory, the injury assessment server 160 may enter each of thereceived data elements within the second category in a manner similar tothat described above with respect to the first category.

In some instances, the injury assessment matrix may further include athird category occupying a third row and/or a third column. The thirdcategory entered by injury assessment server after the injury assessmentmethod has been completed and may be reserved for the estimated type ofinjuries to the user and/or passengers of the vehicle, estimated medicalcosts associated with the injuries, estimated type of procedures neededto heal the injuries, estimated injury healing time, and the like. Aswill be described in further detail below, the loss assessment matrixmay also include a fourth category including the actual type of injuriesto the user and/or passengers of the vehicle, actual medical costsassociated with the injuries, actual type of procedures needed to healthe injuries, actual injury healing time, and the like.

The entry of each data element within the rows or columns of the matrixmay be done in accordance with predetermined injury assessment matrixgeneration guidelines. As such, each of the injury assessment matricesgenerated by the injury assessment server 160 may be of a standardizedformat wherein each column and row position corresponds to a specificdata element. For example, the first data element of the first row andthe first column may correspond to the velocity of the vehicle at thetime of the accident in each loss assessment matrix generated by injuryassessment server 160. Similarly, as will be discussed in further detailbelow, each of the injury assessment matrices stored in historical datasource database 154 may be of the same standardized format as that ofthe injury assessment matrices generated by injury assessment server 160wherein each column and row position corresponds to a specific dataelement. Through the utilization of homogenous injury assessmentmatrices, telematics system 140 may increase processing efficiency byestablishing a standardized data element to data element comparativestructure wherein each data element is compared across injury assessmentmatrices against the corresponding data element of each of the injuryassessment matrices. Thus, the determining of matches and/or hits of oneinjury assessment matrix against another is consolidated to the totalnumber of correlated and/or shared data elements, as opposed to othermethods which mandate the assessment of the interrelation between dataelements.

In some instances, the data elements within a specific category may begreater or less than the data elements of other categories. For example,the first category (e.g., telematics data) may include 25 data elements,the second category (responses to questions regarding the accident) mayinclude 4 data elements, the third category (e.g., estimated injuryinformation) may include 10 data elements, and the fourth category(e.g., actual injury information) may include 10 data elements. In suchinstances, the category with the largest amount of data elements (e.g.,the first category) may define the number of columns in the lossassessment matrix or the number of rows in the loss assessment matrixdepending on whether or not the data elements are entered in a row orcolumn. Each of the remaining categories with fewer data elements mayinclude naught entries corresponding to the difference in data elements.For example, if the first category has 25 data elements and the secondcategory has 4 data elements, the second category will include 21 naughtentries. Naught entries may also be provided for data expected to bereceived by injury assessment server 160, but not provided by telematicsdevice 113, on-board computer 115 via vehicle communication systems 114,and/or mobile device 120.

After injury assessment server 160 has generated the injury assessmentmatrix associated with the user, injury assessment server 160 maytransmit the generated injury assessment matrix to the historical datasource server 150. The historical data source server 150 may compare theinjury assessment matrix of the injury assessment profile against thetotality of historical injury assessment matrices of historical injuryassessment profiles stored in historical data source database 154.

In determining a match and/or a hit of the injury assessment matrixagainst the totality of the historical injury assessment matrices storedin the historical data source database 154, the historical data sourceserver 150 may identify matches and/or hits based upon the correlationof one or more data elements shared by the matrices. Additionally, thehistorical data source server 150 may further associate a level ofconfidence to the overall quality of the match of the injury assessmentmatrix to each of the matched historical injury assessment matricesbased upon the total number of correlated data elements in the first andsecond categories. For example, a correlation of one data element willbe given a minimum confidence level, whereas a correlation of each andevery data element will be given a maximum confidence level.

After the historical data source server 150 has compared the injuryassessment matrix of the injury assessment profile against the totalityof historical injury assessment matrices of historical injury assessmentprofiles stored in historical data source database 154 and hasdetermined one or more matches and/or hits, historical data sourceserver 150 may transmit the historical injury assessment profilescorresponding to the historical injury assessment matrices of the one ormore matches and/or hits stored in historical data source database 154to injury assessment server 160.

Responsive to receiving the historical injury assessment profiles fromthe historical data source server 150, injury assessment server 160 mayextract the actual injury data from the historical injury assessmentmatrix matched and/or hit with the highest level of confidence. Theextracted injury data may correspond to the estimated type of injuriesto the user and/or passengers of the vehicle, estimated medical costsassociated with the injuries, estimated type of procedures needed toheal the injuries, estimated injury healing time, and the like.

At step 210, after determining estimated type of injuries to the userand/or the passengers of the vehicle, estimated medical costs associatedwith the injuries, estimated type of procedures needed to heal theinjuries, estimated injury healing time, and the like, injury assessmentserver 160 may determine whether or not to provide the user with analert that urgent care is needed for the user and/or passengers of thevehicle. In some instances, the determination of whether or not toprovide the user with an alert may be performed in relation to theestimated type of injuries to the user and/or passengers of the vehicle.For example, if injuries are estimated to have occurred affecting thehead, neck, and/or internal organs of the user and/or passengers of thevehicle, injury assessment server 160 may provide notification to theuser that urgent care is needed. Alternatively, the alert may be sentbased on the telematics data received from the vehicle 110 at the timeof the accident. For example, if the vehicle 110 was travelling above acertain velocity at the time of the accident (e.g., 35 mph, 40 mph, 45mph, etc.), the alert may be sent to the user.

In other instances, the alert may be sent to the user if the airbags ofthe vehicle deployed in the accident. For example, when a vehicle 110was involved in an accident and the airbag(s) of the vehicle 110 weredeployed in the accident, telematics data provided to a telematicssystem 140 may include an indication of the airbag deployment. Such anindication may be associated with a particular data element within thestandardized injury assessment matrix generated in response to the userbeing in the accident. In determining whether or not to provide an alertfor the necessity of urgent care, injury assessment server 160 mayanalyze the injury assessment matrix in regards to the particular dataelement corresponding to airbag deployment. If the data element ispresent corresponding to airbag deployment, injury assessment server 160may provide an alert to the user that urgent care is needed.Alternatively, if the data element is not present corresponding toairbag deployment, injury assessment server 160 may not provide an alertto the user that urgent care is needed.

In instances in which injury assessment server 160 determines not toprovide an alert to the user regarding the necessity of urgent care,pre-FNOL assessment methods may be performed at step 212. In somearrangements, the pre-FNOL assessment method may be conducted in orderto determine the costs of repairing damages to the vehicle andaccompanying insurance policy changes if an insurance claim were to befiled to cover the determined repair costs. For instance, arrangementsdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/271,812 entitled,“Enhanced Image Capture and Analysis of Damaged Tangible Objects” filedon Sep. 21, 2016, which is incorporated herein by reference and a copyof which has been submitted with the Information Disclosure Statementconcurrently filed with this application, may be used in conjunctionwith aspects described in the present disclosure to determine costs ofrepairing damages to the vehicle and accompanying insurance policychanges when, for example, an insurance claim is filed for thedetermined repair costs.

In instances in which injury assessment server 160 determines to providethe alert to the user regarding the necessity of urgent care, injuryassessment server 160 may provide the user with the alert at step 214.After presenting the user with the alert, injury assessment server 160may transmit the user's injury assessment profile to medicalclearinghouse server 170. At step 216, upon receipt of the user's injuryassessment profile, medical clearinghouse server 170 may extractgeographical location information corresponding to the user and maygenerate a map through the injury assessment application operating onmobile device 120 of the user and/or an injury assessment webapplication being accessed by an internet browser application operatingon mobile device 120. The geographical location associated with themobile device 120 of the user may be used by medical clearinghouseserver 170 to localize the map corresponding to the user's geographicallocation. Additionally, medical clearinghouse server 170 may render oneor more pins on the map corresponding to urgent care facilities,clinics, and hospitals in the user's immediate area based on the user'sgeographical location.

Each of the pins associated with a particular urgent care facility,clinic, and hospital may be a user-selectable pin. Once selected,medical clearinghouse server 170 may generate an urgent care facility,clinic, and/or hospital specific screen on the injury assessmentapplication and/or the injury assessment web application. The urgentcare facility, clinic, and/or hospital specific screen may provide dataabout the urgent care facility, clinic, and/or hospital such as anaddress, telephone number, types of services performed, and the like.

In some instances, medical clearinghouse server 170 to generate asortable list through the injury assessment application operating onmobile device 120 of the user and/or an injury assessment webapplication being accessed by an internet browser application operatingon mobile device 120. The sortable list may display each of the urgentcare facilities, clinics, and hospitals within the geographical locationassociated with the mobile device 120 of the user, starting with thenearest to urgent care facilities, clinics, and hospitals to thegeographical location associated with the mobile device 120 andterminating with the urgent care facilities, clinics, and hospitalsfurthest from the geographical location associated with the mobiledevice 120. The user of mobile device 120 may be able to sort the urgentcare facilities, clinics, and hospitals comprised within the sortablelist based on factors such as highest ranking, nearest location,availability, and the like. In some instances, the user may be able totoggle between the map interface and the sortable list interface.

At step 218, medical clearinghouse server 170 may receive a userselection of an urgent care facility, clinic, or hospital at which theuser and/or passengers of the vehicle are going to receive treatment.Responsive to receiving such a user selection, medical clearinghouseserver 170 may transmit the information associated with the urgent carefacility, clinic, or hospital selected by the user to injury assessmentserver 160. After receiving the information associated with the urgentcare facility, clinic, or hospital selected by the user, injuryassessment server 160 may transmit the telematics data of the vehicle ofthe user at the time of the accident, the user's responses to the one ormore questions about the accident, and the estimated injuries sustainedby the user and/or passengers of the vehicle during the accident to theurgent care facility, clinic, or hospital selected by the user.

At step 220, responsive to transmitting the telematics data of thevehicle of the user at the time of the accident, the user's responses tothe one or more questions about the accident, and the estimated injuriessustained by the user and/or passengers of the vehicle during theaccident to the urgent care facility, clinic, or hospital selected bythe user, injury assessment server 160 may activate a GPS associatedwith the mobile device 120 of the user. In response to activating theGPS of the mobile device 120, injury assessment server 160 may beconfigured to receive location information corresponding to thereal-time geographical location of the mobile device 120 of the user.Based on the received location information, injury assessment server 160may be able to determine an estimated time of arrival for the userand/or passengers of the vehicle at the user-selected urgent carefacility. The estimated time of arrival may be a dynamic estimationcalculated in real-time by the injury assessment server 160 based on thereal-time geographical locational changes associated with the mobiledevice 120 of the user. In some instances, the injury assessment server160 may be configured to transmit the determined estimated time ofarrival of the user and/or passengers of the vehicle to theuser-selected urgent care facility.

Through activating the GPS only after an accident is detected,telematics system 140 is actively conserving battery power on mobiledevice 120. As one of ordinary skill in the art would readilyappreciate, GPS is battery-intensive and, in some cases,battery-exhaustive. As such, by activating the GPS on mobile device 120in a state in which an accident has been determined to have occurred,the disclosure provided herein provides a technical advantage because itenables the performance in the injury assessment methods describedherein to be conducted without the GPS of mobile device 120 being on atall times.

At step 222, responsive to determining that the estimated time ofarrival of the user at the user-selected urgent care facility is underone minute and/or that the geographical location of the mobile device120 of the user is within a predefined radius of the user-selectedurgent care facility (e.g., 3 miles, 1 mile, 1000 feet, etc.), injuryassessment server 160 may activate a Bluetooth, WiFi, and/or NFCcommunication circuitry associated with the mobile device 120. Uponactivation, the Bluetooth, WiFi, and/or NFC communication circuitry maytransmit a user signifier beacon comprising general informationassociated with the user and/or passengers of the vehicle including atleast name and date of birth. In some instances, a fitness wristband(e.g., FitBit) or smart watch of the user may be configured to transmitthe general information. Through the transmittal of the user signifierbeacon, the user and/or passengers of the vehicle injured in theaccident may be recognized in real-time upon arrival at theuser-selected urgent care facility and patient intake may be seamlesslyperformed.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a computing device 301 in apre-FNOL assessment system 300 that may be used according to one or moreillustrative embodiments of the disclosure. The computing device 301 mayhave a processor 303 for controlling overall operation of the computingdevice 301 and its associated components, including RAM 305, ROM 307,input/output module 309, and memory unit 315. The computing device 301,along with one or more additional devices (e.g., terminals 341, 351) maycorrespond to any of multiple systems or devices, such as close calldetection devices or systems, configured as described herein forreceiving data from various sources, populating a rolling short termlogical table with the received data, and eliciting a particularvehicular response based on the populated data items exceeding nearshort term (e.g., five seconds to five minutes) association thresholds.

Input/Output (I/O) module 309 may include a microphone, keypad, touchscreen, and/or stylus through which a user of the computing device 301may provide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio input/output and a video display device for providingtextual, audiovisual and/or graphical output. Software may be storedwithin memory unit 315 and/or other storage to provide instructions toprocessor 303 for enabling device 301 to perform various functions. Forexample, memory unit 315 may store software used by the device 301, suchas an operating system 317, application programs 319, and an associatedinternal database 321. The memory unit 315 includes one or more ofvolatile and/or non-volatile computer memory to storecomputer-executable instructions, data, and/or other information.Processor 303 and its associated components may allow the computingdevice 301 to execute a series of computer-readable instructions toperform the pre-FNOL assessment and online advisor methods describedherein.

The computing device 301 may operate in a networked environment 300supporting connections to one or more remote computers, such asterminals/devices 341 and 351. Close call detection device 301, andrelated terminals/devices 341 and 351, may include devices installed invehicles, mobile devices that may travel within vehicles, or devicesoutside of vehicles that are configured to receive and process vehicleand other sensor data. Thus, the computing device 301 andterminals/devices 341 and 351 may each include personal computers (e.g.,laptop, desktop, or tablet computers), servers (e.g., web servers,database servers), vehicle-based devices (e.g., on-board vehiclecomputers, short-range vehicle communication systems, sensors andtelematics devices), or mobile communication devices (e.g., mobilephones, portable computing devices, and the like), and may include someor all of the elements described above with respect to the computingdevice 301. The network connections depicted in FIG. 3 include a localarea network (LAN) 325 and a wide area network (WAN) 329, and a wirelesstelecommunications network 1033, but may also include other networks.When used in a LAN networking environment, the computing device 301 maybe connected to the LAN 325 through a network interface or adapter 323.When used in a WAN networking environment, the device 301 may include amodem 327 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN329, such as network 331 (e.g., the Internet). When used in a wirelesstelecommunications network 333, the device 301 may include one or moretransceivers, digital signal processors, and additional circuitry andsoftware for communicating with wireless computing devices 341 (e.g.,mobile phones, short-range vehicle communication systems, vehiclesensing and telematics devices) via one or more network devices 335(e.g., base transceiver stations) in the wireless network 333.

It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areillustrative and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used. The existence of any of variousnetwork protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, andof various wireless communication technologies such as GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi,and WiMAX, is presumed, and the various computing devices andmulti-dimensional risk score generation system components describedherein may be configured to communicate using any of these networkprotocols or technologies.

Additionally, one or more application programs 319 used by the computingdevice 1001 may include computer executable instructions for receivingdata and performing other related functions as described herein.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the various aspectsdescribed herein may be embodied as a method, a computer system, or acomputer program product. Accordingly, those aspects may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment oran embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, suchaspects may take the form of a computer program product stored by one ormore computer-readable storage media having computer-readable programcode, or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitablecomputer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various signals representing data orevents as described herein may be transferred between a source and adestination in the form of electromagnetic waves traveling throughsignal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/orwireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: executing, by a computingdevice and based on a determination that a vehicle including thecomputing device is involved in an accident, an injury determinationapplication; receiving, via a user input at the computing device,information regarding the accident; determining, based on telematicsdata collected at a time of the accident and the information regardingthe accident, costs associated with the accident and whether one or moreinjuries were sustained during the accident; and based on determiningthat one or more injuries were sustained during the accident: outputtinga list of facilities capable of providing treatment for the determinedone or more injuries; and transmitting, to one of the facilities, thetelematics data, the information regarding the accident, and thedetermined one or more injuries.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining the costs associated with the accident comprises at leastone of: estimating repair costs for repairing property determined to bedamaged during the accident; and calculating a change in a premiumamount of an insurance policy of a user of the computing device based onthe estimated repair costs.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation regarding the accident comprises information regarding atleast one of: whether injuries were sustained during the accident,whether the vehicle is drivable, a number of vehicles damaged in theaccident, and a level of detail of repair costs needed.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving, from at least one of the vehicleand one or more other vehicles involved in the accident, the telematicsdata; and determining, based on the received telematics data, that thevehicle is involved in the accident.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe telematics data comprises at least one of: a velocity of the vehicleat a time of the accident, a seat belt usage indication at the time ofthe accident, an airbag deployment indication at the time of theaccident, and a GPS location associated with the vehicle at the time ofthe accident.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing,to a second computing device, an accident notification comprising thetelematics data.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining, by GPS circuitry, a geographical location of the vehicle ata time of the accident; and generating the list of facilities based onthe determined geographical location.
 8. A computing device comprising:at least one processor; and memory, wherein the computing device isconfigured to: execute, based on a determination that a vehicleincluding the computing device is involved in an accident, an injurydetermination application; receive, via a user input at the computingdevice, information regarding the accident; and determine, based ontelematics data collected at a time of the accident and the informationregarding the accident, costs associated with the accident and whetherone or more injuries were sustained during the accident; and based ondetermining that one or more injuries were sustained during theaccident: output a list of facilities capable of providing treatment forthe determined one or more injuries; and transmit, to one of thefacilities, the telematics data, the information regarding the accident,and the determined one or more injuries.
 9. The computing device ofclaim 8, wherein the computing device is further configured to determinethe costs associated with the accident by at least one of: estimatingrepair costs for repairing property determined to be damaged during theaccident; and calculating a change in a premium amount of an insurancepolicy of a user of the computing device based on the estimated repaircosts.
 10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the informationregarding the accident comprises information regarding at least one of:whether injuries were sustained during the accident, whether the vehicleis drivable, a number of vehicles damaged in the accident, and a levelof detail of repair costs needed.
 11. The computing device of claim 8,wherein the computing device is further configured to: receive, from atleast one of the vehicle and one or more other vehicles involved in theaccident, the telematics data; and determine, based on the receivedtelematics data, that the vehicle is involved in the accident.
 12. Thecomputing device of claim 8, wherein the telematics data comprises atleast one of: a velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, aseat belt usage indication at the time of the accident, an airbagdeployment indication at the time of the accident, and a GPS locationassociated with the vehicle at the time of the accident.
 13. Thecomputing device of claim 8, wherein the computing device is furtherconfigured to: provide, to a second computing device, an accidentnotification comprising the telematics data.
 14. The computing device ofclaim 8, wherein the computing device is further configured to:determine, by GPS circuitry, a geographical location of the vehicle at atime of the accident; and generate the list of facilities based on thedetermined geographical location.
 15. A non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, whenexecuted by a computing device, cause the computing device to: execute,based on a determination that a vehicle including the computing deviceis involved in an accident, an injury determination application;receive, via a user input, information regarding the accident;determine, based on telematics data collected at a time of the accidentand the information regarding the accident, whether one or more injurieswere sustained during the accident; and based on determining that one ormore injuries were sustained during the accident: output a list offacilities capable of providing treatment for the determined one or moreinjuries; and transmit, to one of the facilities, the telematics data,the information regarding the accident, and the determined one or moreinjuries.
 16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the information regarding the accident comprises informationregarding whether injuries were sustained during the accident.
 17. Thenon-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein theinstructions further cause the computing device to: receive thetelematics data from at least one of: the vehicle and one or more othervehicles involved in the accident, wherein the telematics data comprisesat least velocity of the vehicle at a time of the accident, a seat beltusage indication at the time of the accident, an airbag deploymentindication at the time of the accident, and a GPS location associatedwith the vehicle at the time of the accident.
 18. The non-transitory,computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions furthercause the computing device to: provide, to a second computing device, anaccident notification comprising the telematics data.
 19. Thenon-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein theinstructions further cause the computing device to: determine, by GPScircuitry, a geographical location of the vehicle at a time of theaccident; and generate the list of facilities based on the determinedgeographical location.
 20. The non-transitory, computer-readable mediumof claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the computing deviceto: output a notification indicating that medical care is needed basedon the determined one or more injuries.